


Fate Of Eights

by LindsayIsTheCraic



Category: DKB (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Football | Soccer, Gen, OT9 focused, depends on whose side you're on, or better ????, the fic where a game of spoons takes a turn for the worse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:42:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28737453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LindsayIsTheCraic/pseuds/LindsayIsTheCraic
Summary: 9 college boys, 8 spoons, 1 bet, and a whole lot of chaos.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	Fate Of Eights

**Author's Note:**

> if anyone has ever played Spoons before, you KNOW how out of control that game can get. if you haven't played, i highly recommend it but beware....chaos WILL ensue. just ask DKB!
> 
> I hope y'all BBs enjoy my first DKB au! 
> 
> All the love,  
> Lindsay :)

"Alright guys, you know the rules,” the boys’ head coach told the group. “Don’t be too loud, clean up any mess you make, and be respectful.”

A chorus of agreement came from the nine boys seated around a large, wooden table in one of the hotel’s conference rooms. Currently, Brave University’s men’s soccer team was split up into two groups of nine, one each residing in their own conference room. Each group was given a stack of cards, a couple board games, and a bag full of random small items.

It was nearing seven at night and the team had just returned to their hotel following team dinner in the city. Like every time the team traveled out of state for a game, the coaches organized team bonding the night before a game. After randomly splitting the team up between two conference rooms, the coaches would leave the boys to their shenanigans and wait in the lobby until curfew hit.

“Oh,” the assistant coach added on as they opened the door to leave, “and Harry-June, no cheating.”

The freshman’s mouth dropped open in shock as the other eight boys hollered and pointed at him. He tried holding his hands up in defense, but his fellow defender and freshman, Junseo, yanked his hands down and pushed at him lightly. As the two began to fight each other off, the two coaches shook their heads and left, closing the door behind them.

Dongil, one of the two captains and one of three seniors in the room, stood up and waved his hands, yelling over the chaos to calm the boys down. When it finally quieted down, Dongil waved his hands at the items on the table, asking the group, “What do we wanna play?”

“Something Rijune can’t cheat in.” That was Junseo.

“I didn’t cheat!” That was Harry-June.

“So that means uno is off the table,” Changmin stated as he grabbed the box and flung it on a table behind him.

Harry-June tried to defend himself, saying, “It was _luck_ I pulled all the ‘pull four’ cards! This isn’t poker, I can’t count the cards!”

“Oh, so you admit to counting cards at the pre-season party?” Gwanghyun (GK) shot at him, narrowing his eyes. GK had lost at the poker table that night against Harry-June, earning him the freshman duty of washing the pennies the first week of preseason. And no one wanted to wash the preseason pennies, especially after Heechan wore one, since the man soaked every single one he wore and they _smelled_.

“No! Again, luck of the draw!” The poor freshman tried defending himself but the junior wasn’t taking it as GK shook his head.

“Well, if we want to keep Harry from cheating—”

“I DIDN’T CHEAT!”

“—then we should be play a game he’s never played before,” Lune explained.

Changmin surveyed the table of games. With how many away games they’ve had this year so far, each player in the room had played each game at least once already. Not having much of a choice, Changmin picked the stack of cards up and rotated the box in his hand as he thought of different card games. When nothing came to mind, he surveyed the room for any help.

His eyes caught on Heechan, who was standing at the sink helping himself to a cup of hot chocolate. As he stirred it together, Changmin’s eyes locked on the spoon he was using. His eyes then traveled to the container of spoons behind Heechan on the counter and it clicked. Grinning, he turned to his co-captain, asking Dongil, “How about Spoons?”

“Spoons?” Harry-June asked, airing his inexperience with the game.

“I thought coach wanted us to bond,” Teo commented, “not kill each other.”

Dongil laughed and replied, “The only way we’ll kill each other is if Harry cheats.”

Deciding to not even try this time, Harry-June threw his hands up and waved his captain off. Laughs sounded around the table as Dongil took the other games and items off the table and Changmin opened the card box.

“What’s Spoons?” Yuku asked.

Changmin split the card deck into two and began shuffling them, nodding to Dongil to get the spoons from the counter. As the cards vibrated off his fingers and mixed, he explained, “Spoons is literally about spoons. Since there’s nine of us, there will only be eight spoons. At the end of each round, you don’t want to be the one without a spoon. If you don’t have a spoon, then you’re out.”

Blowing the steam off his hot chocolate, Heechan asked, “Like musical chairs?”

Tapping the deck against the table to straighten the cards out, Changmin nodded, saying, “Interesting comparison but basically the same concept.” He began passing out cards to everyone as he continued to explain, “Everyone will have four cards and you’ll always have four cards. You can pick them up and see them but don’t let anyone else see them. Harry, no peeking over.”

Everyone laughed as Harry tugged his beanie over his head and screamed into it. As Changmin finished passing the cards out, he set the deck face-down to his left. He picked his cards up and continued explaining, “Every round will start with a new dealer that starts the round off. Since I’m the first dealer, I’ll start the round by picking a card up from the deck. The aim is to get a spoon, and before you can get a spoon, someone has to get four of the same cards in their hand. It be either four sevens, four twos, four kings, for aces, or four whatever. Suit and color doesn’t matter—just four of the same number or person.”

Changmin demonstrated by picking up the first card off the deck and turned to face the whole group—it was a seven. He told them, “Say I pulled this and I had two sevens in my hand and wanted to keep it. To do so, I have to trade out one of the cards in my hand and replace it with this card.” He took a random card from his hand and placed it face down to his right. “Whatever card I’m trading out has to be passed onto the person next to me, which would be Yuku in this case.”

He picked the card back up and put it back in his hand and took the seven back out. He elaborated, “If I pull this card and I don’t want it, I just place it face down and send it over to Yuku.” He played the actions out and picked another card from the deck—it was a king. “As soon as I pass one card on, I have to grab another card and repeat the process. When Yuku gets a card from me, he picks it up and decides if he wants to keep it and trade out one of the cards he has or to keep the ones he already has and pass on the card I gave him to GK. Then GK goes through the same as I pass another card to Yuku, and it trickles down the table until everyone is swapping cards and trying to get all four of one card—a full hand.”

Taking the two cards he pulled from the deck and sliding them to the bottom of the deck, he watched as Dongil finished setting the spoons up in the middle of the table, equal length from everyone. Dongil took over at this point as he assessed the spoons, saying, “Once someone has four of one card, they are free to grab a spoon. They can be as sneaky as they want about grabbing one, they can be as obnoxious as they want to be. But once someone grabs a spoon, it’s a free for all. No one else has to get full hand, you just have to grab a spoon.”

“Free for all?” Junseo asked, examining the cards in his hand and the spoons in front of him. “Like if one goes flying off the table, it’s whoever gets there first?”

Dongil nodded and pointed out, “But the one rule with grabbing is no sabotaging in the sense you can’t throw a spoon across the room or intentionally knock it off the table. Also, no stealing someone else’s spoon once it’s in their hand.”

GK looked over to Harry-June, asking, “Got that, Harry?”

Sending a glare to him, Harry-June grabbed one of the spoons and chucked it at the junior. GK moved in time to avoid it but Harry-June’s aim was completely off and he hit Dongil. Swatting at it as it hit him in the face, Dongil fell back and tripped over his chair, falling to the floor. Laughter rang out for a short moment, but it died when Lune held his hand up as he looked to Dongil on the floor.

Sliding his chair back, Harry-June’s eyes widened with fear as he noticed Dongil cradling his ankle as he laid on the floor. “Shit!” Harry-June whispered as he sprung up and dropped next to his captain. Dongil’s eyes were shut in pain, teeth clenched. Harry-June began rattling off apologies, flustered with his mistake. “I’m so sorry, Dongil. My aim was shit. Oh God, this is why I play a foot sport.”

The room stayed silent as Dongil shook his head and removed one hand, using his finger to tell Harry-June to come closer. Confused and terrified, he leaned closer to the senior. When Dongil sensed Harry-June close by, he slowly opened his eyes and stared into his eyes. Dongil didn’t have to put his hand to the boy’s chest to know his heart was racing, he could see it in his eyes. Smirking, Dongil quickly reached up with both hands and yanked Harry-June’s beanie down and over his face, causing him to fall beside him as he shouted, “That’s for messing up my spoons!”

The room erupted into laughter as Harry-June laid on the ground in defeat. Dongil stood up, snatching the spoon from the floor and patted Harry-June’s head before straightening and replacing the missing spoon. Sitting back down, Dongil nudged his foot into Harry-June’s side, telling him, “C’mon, I’m interested to see how you’ll cheat in this game.”

“Me too,” GK commented as the table laughed again.

Mumbling under his breath, Harry-June got up and sat back in his chair, fixing his beanie off his face and into place. Picking up his cards and checking them out, he sent GK an innocent smile that GK retaliated a middle finger with.

While everyone got ready and organized their cards, Changmin examined every person at the table. To his right was Yuku. To Yuku’s right was GK and next to GK was Dongil. Junseo was next to Dongil’s right side and Harry-June rested on the right side of Junseo. To Harry-June’s right was Lune. Teo sit to Lune’s right and Heechan sat to Teo’s right. Completing the circle, Changmin sat to Heechan’s right, meaning Heechan would be the last person to get a card this round.

After looking at the order, Changmin examined his teammates, trying to decipher each’s expression and figure out their cards and game plan. Yuku was smiling and waiting patiently, so Changmin knew immediately he wasn’t a threat. GK was too focused on Harry-June to be a threat to Changmin, so he wrote him off as well until Harry-June was out. His eyes stopped on Dongil as he found the co-captain smirking slightly at him. He hid it behind his hand of cards, but Changmin could see the evil swarming in his eyes.

Deciding to call him out in front of everyone, he asked, “What’s on the mind, captain?”

Not fazed, Dongil’s smirk grew more, and he removed the cards to reveal it fully. He shrugged slightly, saying, “The weather.”

Changmin knew what that meant. A simple, nonchalant answer coming from Dongil meant there was a more sinister twist on those words. Treading carefully, Changmin raised an eyebrow, asking, “What about the weather?”

Dongil shrugged again and it built a wall of defense between the two, Changmin preparing for the worst. Dongil tapped each one of his cards in his hand and replied, “That it’s supposed to snow during our game tomorrow.”

Now he had everyone’s attention at the table. Most notably, Heechan chugged the rest of his hot chocolate, eyeing the machine for a second round. Changmin knew exactly where this was going. Playing along, he asked Dongil, “And what about that?”

Dongil was full on grinning now, eyes locking on Changmin’s. His tongue stuck between his teeth as he tried to keep his smile from widening. Dongil told the pink-haired captain, “Just how good you would look in those rainbow-colored, leopard-print tights. It would complement your hair perfectly.”

Unconsciously sweeping a hand through his pink locks, Changmin didn’t deflect his comment—Changmin knew he looked good in anything. But wearing those winter tights would clash with their red uniforms, and Changmin couldn’t commit that kind of fashion crime.

“Really?” Changmin questioned. “Cause I think your green hair would blend well with them.” As Dongil reached up and pulled at his green hair, Changmin pushed a step further, adding, “As well with my pink ear band and gloves. That’d really complete the look.”

They locked eyes at that instant, their rivalry sparking up. Bringing his bright smile back, Dongil asked, “Wanna make a bet?”

Changmin was expecting that. Not faltering, Changmin glanced at his cards for a moment, noting he already had three eights. Looking back up, he answered, “What kind of bet?”

Mimicking his movements to show he wasn’t intimidated by whatever cards he had, Dongil said, “Whoever wins the game doesn’t have to wear the tights and winter gear, but the loser does.”

Changmin stayed silent as he thought it over. Scanning the rest of the table quickly, he assured himself the only real threats to the game were Dongil, Teo, Lune, and GK, along with Harry-June as an honorable mention. The others were too calm to risk it all to win like Junseo and Yuku, or they were too spastic to remain calm enough to play smart like Heechan.

Dongil was Dongil, and his laid back personality was a façade he put on to come at you out of nowhere. Teo always sided with Dongil and usually snuck up in a situation to blindly outnumber you. Lune was quiet—too quiet. He was very sneaky and used it to his advantage to sneak away with the win. As for GK, he was as fiery as his red hair. There was a reason he held a grudge against Harry-June for four months and counting. Then there was Harry-June, who Changmin only feared due to the fact he always snuck in a way to cheat. 

Not backing down, Changmin stated, “Deal.”

Dongil’s secret smirk returned as the cards fell back into place to cover his mouth. Ignoring him, Changmin got ready to start the round. Before he could though, Heechan asked the obvious, “What happens if you both lose?”

The two captains looked at each other and Dongil decided to answer, “Whoever gets out first will have to wear it then.”

“Or,” Lune offered, “you both could split the items and wear them.”

The two captains looked at the sophomore, but he didn’t falter under their intense gazes. He had been a tough shit the moment he stepped into the locker room his first year. The previous captains that year had tried their best to make the freshman scared of them (they succeed with Yuku), but Lune never blinked an eye at them. He was silent, but he was head strong.

Stating his support for the idea, GK said, “I think that’s the better option regardless who wins and the loser has to wear the pants in the split.”

The two captains looked over to him and Dongil asked, “Did you wanna be a part of the bet?”

GK’s face coiled into disgust, imagining himself in such attire, and shook his head. “I’ll pass.”

Dongil gave him a pointed look and said, “Then no input or opinion.” The table laughed as GK rolled his eyes. Dongil looked back to Lune, telling him, “Good suggestion though, we’ll do that.”

Changmin lifted the first card off the deck and asked, “Are we good to go then?”

Everyone around the table nodded and Changmin let his eyes settle on Dongil as he brought the card to his eyes and began the game. It was a seven of hearts. Setting it down to his right, he took another card off the deck—it was a queen. He set that down, passing it to Yuku as Yuku was trading out a card. As Changmin went through the same process, looking for his fourth eight, his eyes flickered between the cards, the spoons, and Dongil.

The cards finally made their way all around the table and Heechan traded a card out and placed the traded one besides the deck. A lot of the boys were trading out cards, but Changmin stayed strong, hoping the eight he was looking for was in the pile, not in one of their hands.

He started to get frustrated as the more cards he pulled, not one eight showed up. He had passed Yuku four aces by now, cursing himself for possibly handing Yuku a full hand. He was so wrapped up in how he he hadn’t pulled the other eight yet, he didn’t see Dongil and Teo take a spoon, springing the free for all.

Immediately, GK reached forward and snatched one, followed by Harry-June, the two locking eyes. Lune sneakily reached forward and grabbed one as he passed a card to Teo. Junseo calmly collected one as well, but Heechan saw the movement out of the corner of his eye. He yelled, “MINE!” as he reached for one far from him, causing Changmin to snap out of his gaze.

At the same time, he saw Yuku reaching for the last spoon. Freaking out as the picture of him wearing those tights flashed in his mind, he quickly tickled Heechan’s side, making him squeal. Distracted, Yuku looked over to the noise, his reach freezing. Taking the distraction, Changmin zoomed his hand past Yuku’s and snatched the last spoon.

As the spoon passed in front of Yuku’s face, he snapped back to reality. He looked at the spoon Changmin held and then to where his hand was reached out towards the spoon’s old resting spot. Visibly defeated, Yuku frowned and set his cards on the table, face up. Changmin almost lost all the guilt he felt when he saw Yuku had the eight he was looking for.

As everyone passed their cards in and Yuku took his seat away to watch from the outside, Dongil collected all the spoons. As he took the one from Changmin, he told him, “That was a close one, captain. Eager to wear the tights?”

Changmin gripped the spoon as Dongil tried to take it from his grasp. Locking eyes, Changmin smiled to his co-captain, admitting, “I got lost in thought of you in them. Your calves, especially.”

A slight blush spread across Dongil’s cheeks as he ripped the spoon from Changmin’s grip. Dongil always bragged about his calves and how good they looked, but when others complimented him on them, he got flustered. Sending him a wink, Changmin turned his attention to shuffling the cards for the next round.

As Dongil set up the spoons for the next round, Changmin passed the deck off to GK, as Yuku was no longer to his right. GK passed the cards out as Dongil finished the spoon set up, making sure there was one less. When everyone had their cards and were ready, GK pulled the first card and passed it immediately to Dongil.

Since he was just the dealer, Changmin was now last in line to get a card. As he waited for them to make their rounds, he made a mental note to not get distracted. He got lucky with Yuku and using Heechan as a distraction. He wouldn’t get that lucky a second time in a row.

As Heechan finally got his first card and immediately passed it off to Changmin, Changmin zoned into the game. Right now, he had all four different cards so he had a lot more opportunities to trade out cards. With a quick scan of the table as he put the card off to side without trading out, he saw everyone else was shuffling their cards around and pausing for a moment longer than usual. He knew instantly this round would last longer than the last.

As Heechan went to pass his card to Changmin, it slipped off the table. Frustrated, Changmin smacked his teammate’s arm as he bent over to pick it up. Heechan squealed in response, squeaking a, “Sorry!” out as he threw another card to Changmin. Changmin barely caught it before it went off the table.

“Heechan!”

“It’s not me!” The junior helplessly replied, trying to control and continue the pace Teo was flinging cards at him. Looking over as Changmin switched a four out for a two, he noticed the growing pile beside from Teo to Heechan. As he looked back to the junior, he saw the stress visibly on his face. He was struggling to pick the cards up and decide what he wanted to keep and pass on.

Changmin took whatever he could from Heechan as he watched the others and the spoons. He finally got another two from Heechan and Changmin traded it for his eight. He didn’t want to associate with eights the rest of the game.

“STOP LOOKING AT MY CARDS!”

Everyone snapped out of game mode as they all looked up from their cards to see Junseo shielding his cards from Harry-June. Harry-June glared at his teammate, defending himself, “I wasn’t looking at your cards! I was looking to see if you were going to pass the next card or not! It’s been a whole minute since you’ve given me one!”

“That’s an exaggeration!” Junseo refuted. “It’s only been ten seconds!”

“Still too long! Give me a card!”

Junseo replied by flinging one at Harry-June but it flew all over the place, landing behind him and on the floor. Harry-June sent him another glare as he turned around to pick it up. Out of the corner of Changmin’s eye, he saw Lune silently grabbing a spoon and slipping it into his lap. Alarms going off, Changmin flung himself forward and snatched a spoon, making a scene that alerted the others the spoons were free game now.

Poor Harry-June didn’t notice the others grabbing a spoon as he struggled to the card off the floor, cursing Junseo’s name. When he finally picked it up and spun back around, he mumbled under his breath when it wasn’t a card he needed and passed it on. Not trying to get yelled at for cheating again, he just held his hand out for the next card. When he didn’t get one for a few seconds, he started to complain while looking up from his cards, “Junseo, I swear if you don’t—”

He stopped talking when his eyes found the empty space in the middle of the table, all the spoons gone. His mouth dropped open as his cards fell from his hand. He lifted them in the air, confused, as he shouted, “WHAT?!”

The typical Harry-June reaction got a laugh from everyone in the room as he looked around, shaking his hands in frustration. Instantly turning on Junseo, he pointed at him, accusing him, “You cheated!”

Junseo, unfazed, adjusted his bucket hat nonchalantly asking, “Who looked at whose cards again?”

“I didn’t look at your cards!”

GK flung one of his cards at Harry-June, landing a hit right on his nose. Harry-June flinched and looked to the red-head, glaring as GK told him, “Your cheating tactic didn’t work this time, do better next time.”

Junseo chuckled at that and Harry-June returned his frustration back to his best friend. He tried pushing his bucket hat down but Junseo effectively blocked his advances. Giving up and shoving his cards back towards Changmin, he said, “This shit is rigged! I’m officially the referee to watch for any cheating.”

GK slid his cards back to Changmin, commenting, “So cheating is allowed now?”

Everyone laughed as Harry-June flipped him off, joining Yuku off to the side. As Changmin collected the cards, Dongil set the spoons up again while keeping another off to the side. Since Harry-June was now out, that put Junseo next to Lune, who he would now pass off to.

Shuffling the cards, Changmin surveyed who was left. His eyes landed on Lune who was silently sitting back and had not reacted to the whole scene Harry-June created. While he was sneaky, his tactics usually triggered others and set them off, causing a ruckus detrimental to themselves, without knowing it was him who sparked it. His spot on the threat list shot up towards the top as he passed the deck off to Dongil.

Once everyone had their cards and were set, Dongil picked up the first card off the deck. He looked at it and smirked to himself. His eyes suddenly lifted above the card and froze on Changmin as he traded it out for one in his hand. As he passed it off to Junseo, he offered Changmin an innocent smile. Giving his own hand a quick glance, Changmin noted he had two queens. By looking at his own hand, he didn’t see the look Dongil sent Teo. Teo simply nodded slightly and took every card from Lune and all but threw them at Heechan.

When Changmin finally got a card, he frowned at the sight of an eight. Even though he had an eight in his hand, he wasn’t liking his odds with them. He passed it off to GK. When he grabbed the next one from Heechan, it was one the junior had traded from his hand—and it was an eight. Cursing himself, he passed it off.

“Slow down!”

Changmin looked away from the six he picked up from Heechan, noticing the pile from Teo to Heechan was piling big as Teo barely glanced at them and tossed them to his right. Seeing the big pile, Heechan tried to fly through them, flinging them towards Changmin. Changmin struggled to keep them on the table and stay focused on everything else.

“Teo! Come on!”

Changmin looked over again and saw the pile getting bigger rather than smaller. Heechan was visibly stressed and finally just settled for passing them along to Changmin rather than looking at them. As Changmin picked each up, he glanced over to Teo again, seeing the small smirk on his lips behind his cards. Sensing something wrong, he flickered his eyes to Dongil for a quick second, ignoring the card Heechan passed on. The two captains locked eyes again, and Changmin registered the smirk on his face for a split second before he got whacked with a pile of cards.

“What the—”

Changmin looked at the mess of cards in his lap and those splayed across in front of him. Confused and annoyed, he looked over in time to see Heechan frantically picking up the other half of the huge pile Teo had given him. Quickly scanning over every card, he dropped a two to keep and threw the rest over to Changmin. Changmin barely stopped them from hitting him in the face as more fell in his lap.

“Heechan!” He scolded. “What are you doing?!”

“Keeping the pace of the game going,” he simply answered as he picked up the five new ones Teo quickly slid him. His eyes scanned all five, and he slid all five to his right.

Changmin was so dumbfounded he didn’t pick any of them up, just stared at him. He didn’t snap out of it until he felt a hand in his lap. Quickly looking down, he saw GK reaching over and grabbing a four from his lap. They locked eyes and GK told him, “You’re slowing the pace of the game,” and pulled it back with him, trading it for a different card and passing it to Dongil.

“That’s cheating!” Harry-June accused as he pointed to GK.

GK flipped him off over his shoulder, not looking as he pulled another random card from Changmin’s lap. He replied, “Go right to the cause of it—Teo, not me.”

Teo raised his hands in the air, feigning innocence, but the smirk on his lips said otherwise. And that’s when Changmin saw it—Teo had a spoon his hand. Not blinking as another pile of cards hit him on the side of the face, his eyes focused on the spoons. He noticed that four were missing, leaving two to be grabbed. He quickly reached out and grabbed one, his movements alerting the two boys on both sides of him.

Heechan froze with another pile of cards in his hand, ready to throw them at Changmin; GK’s hand froze mid-reach to steal another card from Changmin’s lap. The two juniors slowly looked to the lone spoon on the table and then to each other. It was silent as neither made the first move for a couple seconds. Literally in the middle of it, Changmin froze himself, not wanting to be a casualty in whatever shit they were going to do to win that spoon.

No matter how still he stayed, it didn’t matter—Heechan made the first move by throwing all the cards at Changmin towards GK. Closing his eyes as he got hit with more cards then he’s passed all game, he only heard the two spring up from their chairs and jump on the table for the spoon.

“Hey! That’s cheating!”

“Everything is cheating with you!”

Chuckles were heard from the group as GK’s tendency to call everything he lost as ‘cheating’ was called out. Expecting to see Heechan with the spoon when he opened his eyes, Changmin was surprised to see the spoon was no longer on the table but not in either of their hands. Everyone’s eyes were trained on Junseo, where the spoon rested on the brim of his bucket hat. Heechan had knocked it off the table by mistake as he reached for it and it landed on Junseo’s hat.

It was silent before the two jumped on the table and fought the other off to reach Junseo first. GK was slightly faster and snatched it off the brim first, nearly falling off the table and into Junseo’s lap. He laid on the table, holding it up in victory. Defeated, Heechan fall on top of GK, muffling his scream into the other junior’s chest.

“I don’t know what I’m more impressed by,” Dongil stated. “The fact GK voluntarily did physical activity to get that spoon or the fact Heechan literally cheated by picking up more than one card at a time and Harry-June didn’t call him out.”

The group laughed as GK gave Dongil the finger with the hand that held the spoon and Harry-June’s classic “WHAT?!” reaction made another appearance. Junseo fixed his hat from GK’s grasping hand as Yuku responded, “I’m more impressed that Junseo didn’t flinch as those two came barreling towards him.”

“That man takes down forwards twice his size without flinching,” Teo commented as he slid his cards to Changmin. “I don’t think those small fries caused his heart rate to increase one beat.”

GK moved his birdie to Teo, earning another round of laughter from the group. Heechan climbed off GK, and the two got off the table. As Changmin reorganized the cards from the mess Heechan had created, Teo slid closer to him, as now Teo would pass off to him. He side-eyed Teo as he shuffled the cards, but Teo was busy fixing his earring.

When he finished shuffling, he passed the deck to Junseo. As Junseo passed the cards to everyone, Changmin noticed Heechan pulled a chair up behind GK. As GK collected his cards, he looked to Heechan, telling him, “Better not throw my cards.” The other junior laughed and playfully ripped them from his hand and dropped them to the floor.

Turning his attention to his own cards, Changmin noted he had another two eights. Shaking his head, he mentally prepared himself as Junseo lifted the first card off the deck and passed it to Lune. Lune immediately passed the card off, barely giving it a look. Changmin watched with interest as he watched the sophomore do it again for the next few cards until Teo sent one flying across his vision.

Looking over to his left, he saw Teo starting to build a pile off to his right for him. Not wanting to fall into the same trap Heechan was in, Changmin turned his focus from Lune to the cards to his left and began trading them out and passing them off to GK. Noticing Changmin wasn’t watching him anymore, Lune scanned the table quickly to see if anyone else had him on his radar.

He had started the round with four kings, so he could grab a spoon whenever he wanted, but he didn’t want to alert the table right away. Barely glancing at the cards Junseo passed off to him, he scanned the table for the right moment to sneak a spoon away. Currently, GK was talking with Heechan and impatiently waiting for Changmin to pass him cards. Changmin was glaring at Teo as his fellow senior passed his cards all over the place. Junseo was too busy making sure he grabbed from the right pile and not the old ones Dongil passed off from the round. Dongil was focused on every aspect of the game, but his gaze lingered on the other seniors every so often.

That’s when Lune struck. After he saw Dongil’s eyes shift to the seniors again, he acted like he was passing a card off to the Teo, and when his hand was coming back from passing the card off, he took a spoon. Quickly, he slid it behind his ear and messed with his hair, pulling it forward to cover it up. The perks of having long hair.

“Teo, you’re extremely lucky,” Changmin threatened, “that I need you to deal with the center backs tomorrow, or I would throw you in the pool as many times as you’ve thrown cards off the table.”

Teo didn’t spare a glance at Changmin as he flung another card to his right, Changmin barely smacking it down in time to keep it on the table. Teo replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Heechan managed to keep all the cards on the table.”

“As you piled them as high as a skyscraper,” Changmin fought back, trading the card out for one in his hand. He currently had three queens in his hand and he was hoping Teo wouldn’t throw the last one across the room.

As he slid the four he had pulled out to GK, Heechan saw what it was and fist pumped, saying, “One more!”

All eyes fell on the pair as GK reached behind him and shoved Heechan away from his cards. “Don’t give my shit away!” He scolded the junior as Harry-June watched them intently. Feeling the freshman’s gaze, GK switched his attention to him, adding, “I can’t be cheating if he’s shouting out _my_ cards for everyone to know.”

“It could be a ruse,” Harry-June shot back. “You two are dangerous together.” GK didn’t refute that but settled for a smirk as he took another card from Changmin, Heechan’s disappointment in the card aired verbally.

Dongil sighed through his nostrils as he passed his fourth nine off to the side of the deck. He debated digging through the pile to pick up the four nines, but if he was going to see Changmin in those tights, he was going to do it fairly—he wouldn’t pull a Harry-June. As he moved to push the cards away from him and keep the temptation at bay, he caught Lune shaking his hair out of the corner of his eye.

Switching his attention from the card GK passed to him off to Lune, he saw Lune passing off cards without looking at them. Every time Junseo handed him a card, he immediately slid it across the table to Teo, not even sparing the number or person on it a glance. Confused, Dongil spared a glance at the spoons. To his surprise, he noticed the spoon nearest Lune was missing. Snapping his gaze back to the quiet sophomore, he watched as he shook his hair again—and that’s when he saw it.

Resting a top his ear, hidden by his hair when it fell perfectly, was the spoon. As if sensing his gaze, Lune turned slightly to fix his attention on his captain. As he accepted another card from Junseo, he winked at Dongil, sliding it immediately to Teo.

Looking back to the spoons and others in the game, he realized no one else had figured it out. His attention fell on to the two other seniors as they bickered back and forth about Teo’s passing skills, noting he could use this to his advantage. Since Lune was sitting beside Junseo, he had taken one of the spoons closest to the two. There was only one left there besides the one between himself and GK. If he reached over and took one of the two in front of Changmin and Teo, it would leave only one for them to battle for, ultimately increasing the chances one of them would be eliminated.

Dongil smirked at that— _perfect._

Standing up from his seat and making his chair slide back and collide with the wall, Dongil made sure to be as obnoxious as he could reaching for one of the two spoons in front of the seniors. Caught off guard, the two seniors flinched back as Dongil’s hand smacked down on the table in front of them and wrapped around a spoon. Each locked eyes with Dongil as he smiled innocently and pulled back, bringing the spoon with him.

The table stalled for a moment as Dongil plopped down in his chair and held his spoon close to his chest. The events quickly registered in everyone’s brain as survival mode kicked in. GK reached forward and grabbed the one in front of him as Heechan screamed. Changmin reached for the one in front of him, but Teo’s hand smacked down on top of it just before Changmin’s did and secured it for himself.

Alarms went off in Changmin’s mind as he freaked out, seeing the lone spoon across the table in front of Junseo. Calm as ever, Changmin saw Junseo slowly reaching forward to grab it. Faster than any mile time he’s run, Changmin jumped up and flung himself onto the table and snatched the spoon from under Junseo’s fingertips.

Breathing a little hard from the sudden jump and his beating heart, Changmin brought it close to his chest. He looked to Junseo, seeing the freshman raise an eyebrow at him as he retracted his hand. Offering him an apologetic smile, Changmin sat up and got off the table. Junseo only commented, “I better see that diving commitment tomorrow for headers when I take my corners.”

The room laughed as Changmin threw the spoon at Junseo, defending himself, “That one was _way_ too far in front of me. Not even Heechan would’ve been able to get there.”

“Excuses,” Junseo replied as he shoved the deck and his cards towards Changmin.

Dropping it as he _knew_ not even Heechan, the player who loved diving for headers or literally anything, couldn’t have reached the cross, he collected the cards and began shuffling them for the next round. As he did, Dongil set the spoons up again, and everyone switched their seat around to be spread out more evenly across the table. Those that were out sat on the outside.

As Changmin straightened out the cards, his eyes landed on Lune. Remembering he didn’t see the sophomore battle for a spoon, he said, “Wait a minute. You never reached for a spoon, how are you still in?”

Smirking, he shook his hair back and revealed the spoon still sitting behind his ear. Taking it from his ear, he handed it to Dongil to add to the pile in the center of the table. Smacking the deck of the cards on the table to straighten them out further, Changmin shook his head in disbelief. He looked to Dongil and asked him, “Did you notice he had one or did you get a full hand?”

Dongil put the one spoon he had taken off to the side and smiled to Changmin, saying, “I noticed the hair accessory.” Changmin slowly nodded, pursing his lips in thought as he passed the deck to Lune, who was wearing a smirk. The boy was getting more clever as the game went on—he was definitely at the top of Changmin’s threat list.

“You don’t qualify that as cheating, GK?” Harry-June asked.

The red head didn’t bother turning to face the freshman. As he picked up the cards Lune sent him, he simply replied, “Are you taking notes?”

“If I am?”

“Then it will _definitely_ be counted as cheating the moment _you_ try to pull it,” GK finished as he organized his cards. The table laughed in response as Harry-June threw his arms in the air as Lune shrugged as he organized his own cards.

Getting his own cards organized, Changmin noticed everyone from his initial threat sweep was still alive. This is where shit got real—everyone at the table would do what they needed to win. Everyone seemed to understand that as well as silence fell across the table. All eyes exchanged glances before settling on Lune, waiting for the round to start.

Not saying a word, Lune picked a card off the deck and glanced at it. He took a second longer than usual, but the smirk forming above the top of the card let the room know well enough—the round was on. As the sophomore exchanged one card out for the one he pulled, Changmin felt his heart rate quicken.

Teo collected the card from Lune and scanned it quickly and passed it off to Changmin. As he picked it up, he saw it was an eight. Noting he had none in his hand, he passed it off to GK. When GK picked the card up, Changmin heard Heechan whisper, “Yes!” and he saw GK exchange it for a card in his hand.

Teo slid Changmin another card, but it went out in front of him slightly. Giving his fellow senior a kick under the table, Changmin picked it up to see another eight. He stared at it while debating. He knew GK had just traded the last eight into his hand and Heechan was excited about it. If he passed it off and it was the last eight GK needed, Changmin would have the upper hand in getting a spoon.

He glanced to his left and saw the infamous pile from Teo starting to grow; he glanced to his right to see GK’s fingers drumming impatiently on the table. He quickly scanned Lune and he saw his eyebrows furred, indicating he wasn’t close to a full hand—unless it was a ruse. Lastly, Changmin’s eyes landed on Dongil. The fellow green-haired captain was moving the cards in his hands around.

Deciding to take the chance, Changmin passed the eight onto GK and kept his hand out in case GK reached for a spoon. Watching from the corner of his eyes, Changmin saw GK trade it out for another card and pass the other on to Dongil; however, GK didn’t reach for a spoon. Deflating a bit, Changmin went to grad another card from Teo when he barely caught Heechan holding up one finger to GK with a big smile.

Changmin had the next card in his fingers already from Teo as the information processed in his brain. Turning the card towards him to see what it was, Changmin realized GK needed one more eight to have a full hand. As his eyes settled on the card he just picked up, Changmin realized he held the fate of GK in his hands—the card was the last eight.

Changmin’s previous game plan crossed his mind again. He would know for sure this time that GK could pull a spoon. As he moved to pass the card off, Dongil caught his eye. Shifting his eyes to his co-captain, he saw Dongil watching him intently, more so the card in his hand. Looking up from the card to Changmin’s eyes, Changmin knew his advantage was blown.

Dongil knew.

Not wanting to make it that easy for him, Changmin decided to put the eight in his hand and passed a four to GK instead. Dongil’s eyes narrowed at Changmin’s movements when Heechan’s disappointment was audibly heard in a sigh. Raising an eyebrow to his co-captain, Changmin grabbed the next card off Teo’s skyscraper and didn’t glance at it as he passed it on. Dongil collected the card GK passed off and looked at it before sliding it off to the side. They locked eyes again as they passed cards to their right, forgetting the point of the game in the first place.

Oh, it was _on_.

And it was on…and on…

And on.

And on

And _on_.

“Where the _fuck_ is the other eight?”

GK’s outburst represented the frustration the rest of the players felt. They had gone through the whole deck without anyone getting a full hand. Lune had to take the messy pile Dongil had put off beside him and start re-pulling from old cards. Of course, Changmin could have ended it all by passing the last eight to GK, but Dongil was watching him still, knowing what he knew. Changmin refused to break.

But the temptation was there, especially since he had passed off the last card a full hand of threes to GK, missing the chance to end the game himself. The round was taking _forever_. Changmin had even kept an eye on Lune’s hair this time, not wanting to fall for that ruse again.

“Will _someone_ cheat so we can move on to the next round?”

All eyes settled on Harry-June, seeing the tired freshman sitting on top of the counter. Looking back to his cards, GK asked, “Any tips?”

“Yeah,” Harry-June replied, ignoring the jab, “someone in the circle has your last eight.”

GK’s eyes immediately shot from his cards to everyone at the table. The daggers he usually reserved for the opposing team were suddenly aimed at each teammate still in the game. He swiped his tongue across his front teeth, biting it under his sharp canine. He told the group, “Pass me the card _now_.”

The game had halted at Harry-June’s outburst, and the cards still didn’t move as the other four players looked at each other. Changmin and Dongil locked eyes last, and Dongil raised an eyebrow at him. The finger resting against the eight twitched, but he didn’t move to hand it over.

When no one else moved, GK swore under his breath, and Lune started passing cards again. Dongil kept his eyes on Changmin for an extra second as he waited for a card to make it to him. Knowing the green-haired captain’s eyes were on him, Changmin decided to play with him. When he picked up the card Teo handed him, he pretended to contemplate switching it out. Biting his lip, he tried to play it off as a huge regret as he slowly slid the card over to GK. He felt Dongil’s eyes following his every move. Once he let the card go, he faked posed to be ready to grab a spoon.

As GK picked the card up, his movements of shifting to his other side tricked Dongil into thinking he was trading it out. Dongil’s arm flew forward, ready to snatch a spoon. He froze, however, when he saw GK passing it off to him. Everyone in the room zoned in on Dongil’s arm before looking to his face. GK’s eyes narrowed at him as he finished sliding the card over. As Dongil took his arm back and picked up the card GK had, seeing it was a seven, he shot Changmin a glare. Changmin winked back and proceeded to combing through Teo’s skyscraper.

A couple more minutes had passed, and GK’s daggers were getting bigger and deadlier each card he got that wasn’t his eight. Changmin felt he had the power of the table, and the others beside GK knew it too. Lune had analyzed Dongil after his false reach, seeing the glare the one captain sent to the other. Teo had caught Dongil’s eye shortly after the captain stare off and understood immediately. Changmin held the game in his hand unless someone else got a full hand first.

And that’s when Changmin ended up back with the last three he would need to have a full hand. He would have to trade off his eight that he held hostage, but he would have a full hand regardless. Sending a quick glance to GK, he saw his foot tapping on the floor impatiently. Heechan was also leaning close over his shoulder as he waited for the last eight to show up. Praying Heechan’s personality would shine through, Changmin switched the eight out and slid it over to GK. As he lifted his hand off the card, his eyes lifted to Dongil, and that was all the co-captain needed.

As GK picked the card up, Changmin set his down face up. The real number on the card didn’t settle in GK’s vision at first as he went to pass it off, but he froze when he recognized it. Heechan didn’t fail Changmin either as he perked up as he recognized it. He threw his hands in the air and screamed right into GK’s ear, “FINALLY!”

GK flinched at the sharp voice ripping his eardrum apart as Changmin reached forward, snatching a spoon. Dongil wasn’t far behind him as the cards fell from GK’s hand as he went to cover the offended ear. Lune and Teo followed behind shortly, stealing the last two spoons as GK sent his daggers at Heechan who smiled innocently back. Shoving the junior away, GK shook his head and reached forward to grab a spoon, only for his hand to come in contact with the table.

It fell silent as GK frowned and patted around, still only contacting the table. He hadn’t looked at the table yet, but he looked to Heechan instead. He reflected the junior’s innocent smile he had on a few seconds ago and told him, “If there’s no spoons left, you may want to start running.”

Heechan’s grin returned as GK turned to the table, and GK noticed the vacant spot where the spoons once rested. He pursed his lips as his fingers strummed the table top, nodding in defeat. He sighed loudly and smacked his hand on the table. He looked to Dongil and said, “You’ll have to find another center mid to start with you tomorrow, Heechan has suddenly become unavailable.”

At that instant, everyone heard the door to the conference room hit the wall as echoing footsteps disappeared down the hall. Smiling innocently again, GK stood up and turned to follow the poor center midfielder. Before he walked out, he stopped at Changmin’s chair. He looked down to him and Changmin slowly looked up to him. GK said, “If that door wasn’t open, I’d have a few select words I’d like to tell you for holding my card. You’re lucky coach is in earshot.”

As he went to leave, Changmin asked, “How do you know I had it?”

GK stopped in the doorframe and looked over his shoulder. “Heechan saw it in your hand and told me,” he said.

“THAT’S CHEATING!” Harry-June accused, pointing at the red head.

GK raised an eyebrow at him, saying, “You would know, wouldn’t you?” Harry-June tried to rebuttal the remark, but GK dismissed him, adding on, “Doesn’t matter anyway, it didn’t work.” As he walked out the door, he threw one last thing over his shoulder, “I have more pressing matters to take care of than false accusations.”

And with that, GK was gone and down the hallway, chasing after poor Heechan.

“They weren’t false,” Harry-June tried to reason with anyone as Junseo shut the conference room door. “He literally just admitted to it!”

Teo waved it off, saying, “You’ll never win that argument with him, Harry. Let him deal with Heechan.”

“Should we send someone up after them in case?” Yuku asked, fear present in his tone and on his face.

Changmin shook his head, saying, “Heechan can’t go very far—they’re sharing a room. The worst GK will do is shove his goalie gloves in Heechan’s face for a couple minutes.”

“That sounds awful,” Yuku commented.

“Oh,” Dongil replied, “it is. Don’t piss GK off. That’s his go-to punishment, and honestly, I think everyone would agree they would rather run full-field sprints than smell those things for ten seconds.”

A hum of approval came from everyone, and as they silently prayed Heechan’s punishment wouldn’t last longer than 30 seconds, Changmin collected the cards to shuffle. Only four of them remained, and Changmin wasn’t surprised to see who lasted. Changmin knew GK was a threat, but his temper and fieriness were a threat to himself—that was half the reason he held the card. Now, he had to find a way to mess with the other three or pray he got a full hand before they did.

Once the cards were all shuffled, Changmin passed the deck to Teo to deal. As Teo passed out the cards to the group, Changmin assessed the spoons. They were placed in a triangle formation between the four of them. As Changmin would be passing his cards off to Dongil now, he had to pay more attention to what he was passing off. If Dongil got a full hand from him, the spoon in front of them would be snatched, and he’d have to fight Teo and Lune off for the ones closer to them.

As the remaining four players got settled down, Teo lifted the first card of the deck. He spared it a small glance before sliding it to Changmin. Changmin picked it up and almost laughed when he saw an eight. Not needing it, he passed it off to Dongil, who did chuckle when he picked it up. Eyeing his co-captain, Changmin only received a wink in explanation.

Deciding to ignore it and focus on the already insane pile from Teo, Changmin grabbed the top one and quickly worked his way through the cards. Much to his dismay, he passed another eight off to Dongil, which he saw the green-haired captain smirk as he switched it into his hand. Not knowing how close to a full hand he was, Changmin debated pulling the same trick he did with GK.

As he was lost in his own internal debate, he didn’t see Lune surveying the table as he hid behind the card he got from Dongil. Not even Dongil noticed the pile growing up from what he passed to the sophomore. Teo however noticed right away the stall Lune entered in passing him cards, even if Teo was pulling from the deck.

As Teo kept pulling from the deck, he saw Lune trade out a card in his hand for the one he held for a long time. Knowing he was being watched by Teo, Lune turned to make eye contact with him as he slowly but stealthily reached for a spoon. He took it without alerting the two captains and set it behind the growing pile of cards beside him from Dongil. Winking, Lune grabbed a card off the top of the pile and passed it beside the deck.

Teo looked from the long-haired sophomore to his fellow green-haired forward, noticing that Dongil hadn’t noticed a spoon was missing. Dongil was too focused on Changmin, watching for the chance his final eight might show up. Changmin also hadn’t noticed, still deciding whether he wanted to play the same gimmick he had done to GK with Dongil.

Teo took the next card off the deck and immediately passed it off to Changmin, forgetting for a second to not purposefully make it a messy hand off. Changmin side-eyed him slightly, but Teo immediately slid back into character, smirking as he quickly picked the next card off the deck, flinging it to hit Changmin on the side of the head. The senior grumbled a threat under his breath as his abandoned the card on the floor and went back to the skyscraper Teo had built him turns ago.

Waiting for Changmin’s attention to fully leave him, Teo looked to see if Dongil had noticed the missing spoon. He had not. Cursing mentally, Teo tried to figure out a way to draw Dongil’s attention away from Changmin. He could easily make a scene with taking one of the two spoons left, but he wasn’t sure if Dongil would realize before Changmin, as Changmin had the advantage of sitting beside him.

Picking the next card up from the pile, his eyes shot to Lune again, who looked back to him as he mindlessly passed each of Dongil’s cards off without glancing at them. A smirk came to rest upon Lune’s lips as the look in his eyes dared him to make a move. Teo was never one to back down to a challenge; Teo was known by his teammates as a player who took every threat on the field seriously. If an opponent talked shit, Teo made them eat their words, sometimes literally with a classic hip bump that would send them flying onto the ground.

Teo was also the teammate who knew how to make sacrifices. There were many times he would sacrifice getting railed by an opposing defender to draw a foul for a penalty kick. During road trips, he would always sacrifice some of his money-spending limit for Dongil to get an extra food item. He was willing to sacrifice a win in Spoons if it meant Changmin was going to be the one to wear those horrendous tights.

Taking the card he had just picked from the pile, he smacked it on the table next to the pile beside Changmin. His gaze was now resting on Dongil, hoping the noise would draw his attention. It failed. Dongil was busy turning his nose up at the card Changmin had passed to him. Teo tried the same strategy for the next five cards, but he got nothing out of Dongil.

As he did it for the sixth card, Changmin smacked his hand on top of Teo’s. The two met gazes and Changmin told him, “While I appreciate you alerting me to each card you oh so gracefully pass to me, I notice it enough when you add it to my skyscraper.”

Teo raised an eyebrow at his captain. Changmin was trying to address him that he noticed the obvious while being oblivious to the actual obvious. Letting it go, Teo smiled sweetly, and replied, “Sorry, cap. I just wanted to keep the game flowing. Wouldn’t want to _miss_ any card, now would we?”

Changmin picked up on the hint of a double meaning in Teo’s words, but he couldn’t figure out exactly what he was implying. He looked at the cards in his hand, noticing he was missing a queen to get a full hand. He held the last eight Dongil needed hostage, as he had willingly passed off the two other eights. Did Teo have his last queen? What else was missing?

That’s when it hit him.

Lune had been quiet this round—too quiet. Looking over to the sophomore, he noticed the smirk on his lips and the look he had while he watched the two seniors. Letting his eyes drift down to the spoons, Changmin noticed one was missing. Quickly, his eyes snapped back to Lune, where the spoon rested behind the pile of cards Dongil had passed on.

Changmin’s eyes then went to Teo, who raised an eyebrow back at him. Changmin was hesitant at first to move, wondering why Teo was helping him out. As soon as that thought crossed his mind, Teo cleared his throat loudly, finally drawing Dongil’s attention from his cards. The two made eye contact as Changmin felt dread creep up his neck as he watched Teo break the eye contact with the other captain to flicker towards the spoons.

Both captains reacted instantly. Changmin went to lift his hand off of Teo’s to reach for the spoon closest to that hand, but Teo quickly turned his hand up to grip it and keep it there. At the same time, Dongil succeeded in grabbing the spoon closest to him. Panic washed over Changmin as he saw Teo reaching for the last spoon as Changmin flung his free arm forward, letting his cards scatter freely.

Both their hands came crashing down on the spoon, but the cards from Changmin fell over their hands, blocking the view of who actually grabbed it first. Before either of them could move, Harry-June jumped up off the counter top he was sitting on, and yelled, “DON’T MOVE!”

Everyone froze. Both Teo and Changmin could feel part of the spoon in their fingers, but it all depended on whose hand was below the other.

Harry-June made his way over and looked between the two. He told them, “No moving, that’s _cheating_.” Everyone besides the two in the scuffle snickered at the youngest’s comment.

The freshman leaned over and started to slowly remove the cards. Changmin’s heart beat raced faster each card that was removed. The mental image of him wearing those rainbow, leopard-print tights became clearer and clearer as each card was removed. As Harry-June removed the last card, Changmin closed his eyes, not able to watch the result.

“And the winner is…” Harry-June spoke as he squatted to be at eye level with their intertwined hands. Changmin felt Harry lifting his fingers one by one till his last one that was touching the spoon was left on the table. “Changmin!”

Surprised, Changmin’s eyes shot open and he looked to his and Teo’s hands. Examining the fingers Harry-June pulled back, Changmin saw that he made managed to sneak his pinky underneath Teo’s pointer finger to touch the spoon first.

A grin exploded ear-to-ear on Changmin’s face, and he ripped the spoon from underneath Teo’s hand. He turned to face his fellow senior and held it in his face, saying, “Your tactic of passing cards like shit didn’t work.”

Teo just smirked back, reaching up and effortlessly flicking the spoon free from Changmin’s grip. He said, “It didn’t work on you _this_ round.”

Everyone laughed, Dongil a bit louder than the rest, as Teo slid the deck of cards back to Changmin. Changmin ignored the comment, even if it was true. He ripped his other hand from Teo’s grasp and collected the rest of the cards to shuffle. Once it was done, he set it up to be the dealer and passed out the respective cards out to Dongil, Lune, and himself.

It was down to the final three. The stakes of the bet itself was rising and having Lune in the top three made Changmin anxious, especially since he had snuck under both of their noses so easily last round. He really had to be on his guard if he didn’t want to end up in those tights and his winter gear tomorrow.

He looked around the table at the remaining two teammates. He examined the four cards in his hand and noticed he had two nines and two threes. He had a good start, but judging by the way Lune was too relaxed and how Dongil was smirking over his cards again at Changmin, he knew they were off to a good start as well. Deciding to dive into the hot water, Changmin pulled the first card off the deck, starting the round.

He had pulled a nine. Smirking, and not caring if the others saw it or not, he switched it into his hand and passed Dongil his three. Much to his dismay, Changmin saw Dongil trade the three into his hand and pass whatever he had to Lune. To add surprise to his reaction, Lune exchanged the card Dongil passed to him into his hand and slid the discarded card beside the deck.

Slowly, Changmin pulled the next card off the deck. It was also a nine. Not so smug anymore, Changmin let his eyes roam over the two quickly. Both were waiting on him to advance, and his hesitation to continue quickly gave his hand away. He might as well as turned it over and showed them.

Exchanging it for the three in his hand, Changmin slowly slid the card to Dongil. As Dongil picked it up, Changmin could’ve use that opportunity to take a spoon. Both his hands were full and his mind was preoccupied. However, his curiosity to see if Dongil would indeed exchange the three over powered his urgency to save his ass from wearing those tights.

And Dongil did trade another card in his hand out to keep the three. As he passed the card to Lune, the two captains glanced at each other. At the same time, their eyes flicked to the spoons, and that’s when both knew they both had a full hand. But before they sprung to steal a spoon, they both looked to see what Lune would do. Much to their amusement, he put the card Dongil passed to him in his hand and took one out and slid it with the other he discarded. When he looked up to see both captains staring at him, he smirked.

And that’s how the showdown started.

All three of them had a full hand. Now, they had to wait and see who would make the first move. Changmin didn’t bother grabbing for the next card, as they each knew each other’s situation. Lune made the first move, reaching forward slightly but pulled back lightly and fixed his hair instead. The movement made the two seniors jerk forward, earning a larger smirk from the sophomore.

The three sat there for a long, silent minute, watching each other. Yuku leaned over to Junseo, asking, “Who do you think will make the first move?”

Junseo examined the three teammates, having more of a view Dongil as he sat in front of him. Under the table, Junseo could see Dongil’s knee bopping up and down. He looked over to Changmin on his left and noticed his eyes were constantly and rapidly switching between the two others. Looking to the right towards Lune, Junseo saw Lune leaned back and strumming his free fingers across the table.

Leaning to meet Yuku, Junseo replied, “I think Dongil will.”

Yuku’s eyebrows went up in surprise as he also surveyed his teammates. “What makes you say that?”

Junseo pointed to where Dongil’s leg bouncing increased. He explained, “He’s getting antsy. Even though he has great control and patience, sometimes his eagerness beats those. Think about when we do relay races with dribbling. He does real well the first few cause nothing’s at stake, but when the final rounds come up and first place is on the line, he starts to make mistakes because he gets too eager to be back first.”

Yuku agreed, nodding along. Junseo continued as he pointed to Changmin next, “We know Changmin’s the opposite of Dongil and will jump at any opportunity he can, no matter the timing. That’s why they balance each other out so perfectly—the head and the heart.” At that moment, Changmin scratched at his chest and Dongil scratched his head. “But he also likes to follow others in tough situations that he’s experienced where he jumped in too soon and had a bad experience or it got close to be being bad.”

Junseo looked around the room, his eyes settling on Teo. He continued, “Just recently, he tried jumping on a spoon with Teo when he reacted to what Teo had told him. It almost ended with him losing and wearing those tights tomorrow.” Yuku interrupted him with a giggle. “He’s gonna wait and follow whoever makes the first move this time to be safe.”

“And that will be Dongil,” Yuku connected the information, nodding again. He looked over to his sophomore buddy, asking, “But why not Lune? He’s been the lead so far in taking a spoon first.”

Junseo nodded in agreement as he shifted his gaze to Lune. Lune was very, very, _very_ sneaky. Whether it be on the field or off the field, he was stealthy like a cat. That’s why he was the perfect attacking center midfielder—he easily slipped behind the opposing back line undetected and found himself in many scoring opportunities. His only downside to his quiet tricks was once he did it many times, teams picked up on it, and they became ineffective after a while. As he was only a sophomore, he was gaining new tricks up his sleeve every practice, so by the time he was a senior, no one would be able to track him all game.

It sucked this game of Spoons was happening now and not in two years.

Junseo told Yuku, “We both know how quiet and sneaky Lune is, but he’s used all his tricks. The hair stunt was golden, but after those previous rounds, especially with our captains, he’ll have to pull off a miracle to go unnoticed this time. I think he’ll lose out on this round simply because Dongil will initiate it, and Changmin’s bloodthirsty attitude in their rivalry will cause him to out speed Lune to the spoon.”

Yuku nodded slowly as he let his eyes roam over the three as the stare down continued. Then, like a chain reaction, Dongil snapped. His free hand reached forward and snatched a spoon from the two in the middle. The next domino fell and Changmin all about threw himself on the table to ensure he got the last spoon. Watching the last domino fall, Lune was mid-reach by the time Changmin was cradling the spoon to his chest.

Junseo looked to Yuku, smirking, and said, “There ya go.”

Yuku laughed as Lune pushed away from the table and Changmin rolled off it. Yuku said, “And that’s why you’re our center back. Always so observant and just knowing what will happen before it does.”

Junseo smiled back as the door to the conference room burst open. All the boys turned to see GK and Heechan standing there. GK had a bright smile while Heechan looked like he had the life sucked out of him. Changmin guessed by the way he reached up and tried wiping at his nose, he got the GK-glove treatment.

Changmin wasn’t sure what was worse: wearing those tights or inhaling the scent of GK’s goalie gloves.

He didn’t want to ever find himself in the position of being able to compare the two.

As Changmin settled back in his seat and collected the cards to shuffle, he asked the two, “Have a nice chat you two?”

GK smiled more, more than any of them had seen from him before. He slung an arm over Heechan’s shoulders and pulled him close. He turned to look at the poor center midfielder, saying, “We’ve never had a more constructive conversation before, wouldn’t you say?”

When Heechan didn’t respond right away, GK tugged him closer, asking again, “Right, Heechan?”

Heechan visibly flinched and his nostrils widened unconsciously. He looked to his red-headed best friend and nodded continuously.

GK’s smile seemed to broaden even more as he addressed the room again with his gaze. “We made it in time for the finale too.” Not letting Heechan go, GK dragged him off to the opposite side of the table to stand by Teo.

Oh, that poor boy. Changmin did _not_ want to find himself in his shoes. He’s honestly surprised Harry-June hasn’t found himself there yet. He was definitely pushing his limits though.

Turning his attention back to the game, he had to get focused. This was it; this was the final round. This would decide who would have to make the fashion crime.

As he finished shuffling the cards, he slid the deck over to Dongil. They both locked eyes as Dongil passed the cards out. Once they both had their four cards, they waited in that moment before making a move. They watched each other, trying to intimidate the other. Too bad they had spent all of their four years at Brave University in a rivalry—a good, healthy one, but a rivalry none-the-less—so each knew the other inside and out completely. Neither could intimidate the other to the point one would cave.

Didn’t matter if it was over a shooting competition in practice or over who could take the most shots before blacking out. Whenever there was a chance for competition, the two always found themselves sparring off to see who would win. They would find each other’s weakness in everything they fought over and try to use it as an advantage. Over time, they became sensitized to each other’s tactics, so only skill and effort determined the winner.

As they continued to stare each other down, an unspoken message passed between them. At the same time, they both stood up and kicked their chairs away. They looked down to the sole spoon resting between them before locking gazes again.

Dongil broke the silence, smirking as he asked, “Ready to wear those tights?”

Changmin smirked back, glancing at his cards real quick. He had four different ones, but his eyes were immediately attracted to the eight of hearts he had. Looking back to his co-captain, he replied, “There’s still time to dye your hair to match the tights tomorrow if you wanna sneak out and buy hair dye at the gas station down the street.”

Dongil chuckled as the rest of the boys remained silent. Neither captain looked around. Their attention stayed on each other, the cards, and the single spoon that held their fate in its plastic. Dongil’s free hand hovered over the deck of cards, fingers grazing the first card. He raised an eyebrow at his fellow captain, asking, “Ready?”

Changmin watched Dongil’s fingers wrap around the card, ready to start the final round. His heart began to beat faster, the pounding drowning out the silence from the others. The fingers of his free hand twitched in anticipation, wanting a card between them. He licked his lips, the dryness representing the stress response stimulated in his flight-or-fight reaction.

Changmin looked up to Dongil, catching his eyes once again. The determination and fire inside his co-captain’s eyes matched his own. That was it. There was no fleeing; there was no running. It was time to make the mental image of Dongil in those rainbow, leopard-print tights a reality.

Sending Dongil his signature smirk, Changmin said, “Ready.”

Recognizing the smirk, Dongil reflected it back. There was a short pause of silence as the air settled between them. Then, quicker than he’s moved all game, Dongil ripped the first card off the deck and glanced it over before shoving it towards Changmin. Changmin picked it up, saw it didn’t match anything in his hand, and placed it down on the table off to the side.

The tradeoff happened for the first couple rounds as neither captain traded their cards out from their hand. The other teammates watched closely, inching closer slowly every time Dongil passed a card off to Changmin. Harry-June was the closet as he stood beside Dongil, eyes switching between the two captains. He threatened, “If I catch either of you cheating, then you automatically have to wear the tights, no matter who wins.”

“And what all about the times you cheated?” GK asked. “You’d have to wear them the rest of the season to make up for each time.”

Harry-June took one of the spoons that was set aside and chucked it at the junior. Staying true to his comment earlier in the night, his aim was off and he hit Heechan instead, who was stirring his new hot chocolate. It spilled on his hand as he jerked in reaction from being hit, and in Heechan fashion, he started screaming as he tried to shake it off. GK tried controlling him, afraid he’d spill it more and get them a noise complaint. When it cooled off, Heechan took a deep breath through his nose, paused for a second, and let it out saying, “Wow, I can finally smell something other than your gloves.”

“And if you scream like that again,” GK threatened as he offered him a napkin, “I’ll make sure that’s all you’ll smell the rest of the season.”

“It was Rijune’s fault!”

“Was not!”

GK shot the freshman a playful glare, saying, “Throw another spoon and you’ll wear the tights _next_ season as well.”

Changmin and Dongil didn’t pay the drama any attention as finally Changmin got a card to match one in his hand—eight of spades. Switching it out and sliding a three to the discarded pile, Changmin saw Dongil glance his way slightly. They caught each other’s eyes for a moment before returning back to the game. As soon as Dongil pulled the next card, he swore a little under his breath when he couldn’t trade it into his hand.

A smirk grew on Changmin’s lips as he collected the card from Dongil. He looked at it—a king—and passed it on without trading it in. Changmin saw Dongil quickly go through the next couple of cards while trading some out, giving Changmin a small pile he had to shift through. As Changmin lifted each and passed them on, he noticed he pulled a four, one of the two odd cards in his hand. He paused a second, debating if he should split his hand between fours and eights. He couldn’t recall if he already passed up fours or not. As he saw the pile from Dongil growing slightly, he decided to risk it and traded it out to have two fours and two eights in his hand.

“How did they not get distracted from those three?” Yuku asked as he watched Dongil in awe.

Junseo laughed as he watched beside Yuku. He said, “They’ve had an extra year to deal with Heechan and GK’s tactics than either of us have. Nothing fazes them.”

“Unless it’s GK voluntarily doing physical activity,” Yuku pointed out. That earned another laugh from Junseo as he nodded in agreement.

Dongil cursed under his breath again. He couldn’t get a pair of _any_ card to save his life—or more so to save his ass from having to wear those tights. He wasn’t sure why his grandmother thought they made the perfect birthday gift, but his parents made him take them with him to college when he moved out to Brave University. He’s never had to wear them once beside during themed practices when they matched his outfit or during Halloween parties. The one picture his grandmother got of him every year in them made her happy enough.

As he pulled a king off the deck, he swore again. He already had passed off a king to Changmin, meaning he couldn’t keep it. He passed it off as he picked the next card up. He had tried switching out his whole hand to try and get lucky with some pulls, but it didn’t pay off. If he could just get one pair started he’d feel a lot better.

The card he had pulled was an eight of clubs. Knowing he had already passed an eight off, he threw it towards Changmin. It spiraled in the air before falling off to the side of the small pile Dongil had built him. Changmin noticed and grabbed it, saying, “Calm down, Teo.”

Dongil smirked a little, eyes flickering to the other senior who stood behind his co-captain. Teo got the message and walked to be by the pile by Changmin. He suddenly lifted his hand to his mouth and pretended to badly sneeze, blowing some of the cards off the table. Changmin had grabbed the card that Dongil flung and held it close to him like a shield while he glared at Teo.

“No cheating!” Harry-June shouted, pointing at Teo.

Teo played innocent, wiping at his nose with his pointer finger. He held his hands up, feigning innocence. “It was an accident. I’ll pick them up, don’t worry.”

Changmin shook his head as Dongil chuckled. Pulling the card away from him and to look at it, Changming almost screamed when he saw it was an eight of clubs. Trading out one of the fours in his hand, he made sure to conceal his excitement as he was one more card closer to a full hand.

As Teo was picking the cards up and placing them on the table for Changmin at a fair pace, Dongil pulled another useless card. Shaking his head, he slid it over as he looked to Changmin for a moment. He noticed that Changmin’s demeanor had changed. Unlike other rounds, he didn’t look anxious. There was an aura of confidence oozing around him.

Sensing the gaze, Dongil quickly looked behind Changmin again, seeing Lune watching him. A bit confused, Dongil raised an eyebrow at him. Luckily, Changmin was distracted with shuffling through the cards Teo had “sneezed” away to notice. Lune diverted his eyes to the cards in Changmin’s hand for a quick second before looking back to Dongil. All he did after that was raise his own eyebrow in response, but Dongil understood.

Changmin was close to winning. Which meant Dongil was close to wearing those god awful tights.

Visibly cracking, he began ripping through the deck, praying he’d pull one, just _one_ of his cards. Unfortunately he pulled a king, and then the other king. He angrily threw them towards the pile Changmin had, but he missed, and they hit Teo in the head. Teo glared over the edge of the table and smacked them on the table, but Dongil ignored it as he kept searching for a match.

Changmin’s focus was interrupted when Teo smacked the cards down, and he followed the senior’s glare to his competitor. He saw the frustration coming off his fellow captain in waves. Feeling even more confident, knowing he was in the lead, he teased, “Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

Dongil flipped him off as he threw another card to him. Changmin laughed, his smile big as he picked another card off the pile. Dongil took his middle finger down to pick up the next card and when saw what it was, he almost pulled a Heechan with screaming—it was a seven of hearts. He _finally_ got a match in his hand. Quickly trading it into his hand, he threw Changmin a random card from his hand. If it wasn’t a seven, he didn’t care.

Even if it was only one card, it was start. Now, he was only one card behind Changmin, and the smaller he could make that gap, the better.

Dongil began to search through the cards faster, a new-found confidence surging through him. As Changmin saw the pile getting bigger rather than smaller, he looked to Dongil and saw the new fire lit in his eyes. Alarms went off in his own head, knowing Dongil had finally gotten a match in his hand.

His own paced picked up, trying to find that last eight in the pile. His fate literally rested on finding it—for how much shit they gave him earlier in the game, he was now depending on them to save him. Things really do come full circle, don’t they?

“Yes!” Dongil whisper-shouted to himself as he pulled another seven—this time the seven of diamonds. He traded out another random card and slid it off to Changmin, who noticed his reaction. Dongil looked up for a second, sensing the fear. He winked, adding, “Don’t get your panties in a twist.”

Talk about a double slap to the face. Gritting his teeth, Changmin moved faster through the pile, praying that last eight of diamonds rested in it. When he somehow got through the whole pile to where he now had to wait for Dongil to pass him one, he didn’t cross paths with the last eight. Karma was really coming for him for holding that last eight back from GK.

The deck was getting smaller as Dongil ripped through it, praying the last seven of spades was in there and not Changmin’s hand or the discarded pile for cards he never got to see. Any card he didn’t need he immediately threw it to Changmin. Six of hearts, queen of diamonds, two of spades, and even the joker somehow ended up in the pile.

All the teammates were now huddled around the small playing area, not wanting to miss one bit of the action. GK held Heechan in the middle so he couldn’t accidentally yell out when one of them finally got a full hand while Harry-June shifted his attention back and forth between the two to check for cheating. Teo stood closest to Changmin where he had knocked the cards off, watching each card Changmin turned up. Lune, Junseo, and Yuku stood on the other side, all silently watching.

Soon, Dongil came to the last card of the deck. He took the time to slow the game down but made the move to have the card ready between his fingers. He watched as Changmin shook his head at the latest card Dongil passed to him and he threw it in the discarded pile. He turned to his co-captain, eyes trailing to the last card as well.

This could very well be it. That one card could be the seven of spades or the eight of diamonds—it could be the winning card. It could determine who won and who was wearing those tights tomorrow.

Dongil and Changmin both licked their lips while taking a deep breath. Locking eyes one final time, Dongil picked the card up and immediately, a grin spread across his face.

It was the seven of spades.

He traded out the last non-seven card from his hand and slid it over to Changmin as he put the new card in his hand, completing his full hand. Changmin saw the smile on Dongil’s face, his heart falling through his body to the floor. Heart still racing, he picked up the card Dongil sent him, and his heart shot right back up into his body and pounded in his chest.

It was the eight of diamonds.

Changmin looked to Dongil as he exchanged the last non-eight out of his hand and put the eight of diamonds in to complete his full hand. Dongil’s smile faltered a bit, watching the events proceed before looking up to catch his co-captain’s eyes.

Both froze in their spot; both gripped onto their full hands. All seven of the other boys knew what happened, and they waited for someone to make the first move. Harry-June watched them closely, getting a bad feeling as he saw the glare between the co-captains electrify before his eyes.

Without warning, the two captains both sprung forward, throwing their cards wildly to have both hands free for the spoon. The two fell on the table, tackling each other in the process, scrapping for the spoon.

“I GOT IT!”

“NO, I GOT IT!”

“ ** _NO CHEATING!_** ”

+

It did end up snowing the next day for the game. It had also snowed the night before, so there was layers of white everywhere, blinding Brave University’s men’s soccer team as they walked over to their bench.

They stood out against the snow, and not just for their red jerseys or for their talent. One player in particular, whose number-24 jersey was always a target for being assigned extra defenders, stood out for other reasons.

When the game went into overtime, Brave University needed a hero to step up. They needed a teammate to take one for the team and score the golden goal, giving them the win. Many tried, many failed—but one did succeed.

It was a beautiful goal, one that belonged in the Top 10 plays for SportsCenter. The center back that sent in the corner would never again complain about said player not committing to diving headers. Having two extra defenders on him during the corner proved to be no match for him. He easily lost them when the corner was taken, and when he noticed it was further in front of him than intended, he dove head first for it, secretly thanking specific tights for keeping his legs warm to have the power to dive that far.

And when his head came in contact with the ball, he thanked a specific ear band for keeping his head warmer than it would be without it so the hit didn’t cause him pain. As he fell to the floor, watching the ball, he thanked a specific pair of gloves he was wearing for keeping his hands warm and dry when he collided with the floor, finishing the dive. As he laid in the snow, he watched as the ball soared past the opposing goalie’s fingers and into the back of the net.

It sealed their fate as winners, exactly on the eighth minute of overtime.

The hero? He wore rainbow-colored, leopard-print tights with pink gloves and a pink ear band that matched his hair.

**Author's Note:**

> BB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed my first DKB fic; I truly enjoyed writing for them!!! Let me know what you thought!!!
> 
> I hope the cover I made on Twitter makes more sense now ;)
> 
> All the love,  
> Lindsay :)


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